Shinedown Go Acoustic for Anything & Everything Tour

Anything and everything will go on Shinedown's upcoming, first-ever acoustic tour, dubbed Anything & Everything. The tour kicks off on Nov. 4 in Tampa, Fla. and runs through Dec. 9 in New Orleans. Each show will be approximately two hours. But make no mistake. Anything & Everything won't be like VH1's 'Storytellers,' even though the band will be taking questions during the show.

"We've never done a tour like this," frontman Brent Smith told Noisecreep. "We've done a few acoustic shows over the past six years, but it was our hardcore fans who asked us to do a full band acoustic tour. We've never done it for 26 shows. We will be taking songs that people know and add a few surprises. But we are taking the songs and flipping the mindset drastically and you'll be hearing the songs in a different way." The band will have two additional players on stage with them, including one of their techs adding percussion and opening act Will Hoag playing guitar.

Smith said that the Anything & Everything Tour will also let people have a closer look. He said, "It will let people know who I am and who this band is. It's one-on-one and shows you where these songs came from." This tour differs from the aforementioned storytellers in that Smith said the stories will be more in depth and interesting. "I am going to be talking about some of these songs 10 years after they were written and having seen different reactions to them all across the world," Smith said. "There will be no walls."

The shows will have four movements, including two segments -- one after the sixth song and one before the final two songs -- featuring radio contest winners who will be given cart blanche to come up to the mic and ask Smith anything their heart desires. Yes, Smith is already anticipating marriage proposals from female fans. The band will go rogue and not know what they'll be asked in advance, since Smith and company have faith that their fans will be respectful. The questions can be music-related or not; the band simply asks that the queries have substance.

The entire set up will be cozy, intimate and stripped down -- no effects, no stage props. Since the recent Carnival of Madness tour saw the band performing with all guns blazing with lots of lights and production value, the A&E run will center on what's most important: the music.

Smith also revealed that most Shinedown songs are composed on an acoustic guitar, including their biggest hit, 'Devour.' So the band isn't concerned with translating the tunes. "Our only concern is what make the hair on your neck stand up. We want to unleash what you didn't know existed," Smith said. "It's all about the lyric and melodies. Shinedown have usually been focused on writing anthems, not 'album tracks,' and with this tour, we're in the business of making memories. We want you to tell your grandkids about this."

After the A&E tour, Smith said Shinedown will get cracking on writing album #4, which is expected in 2012 or perhaps sooner.